Tuesday's Tute: Embellished Cardigan Sweater & A Surprise

Thanks to Curly for the photo.

 Have you ever wanted a cardigan sweater and all you could find was a crewneck?  It's actually quite easy to convert a crewneck into a cardigan and add a bit of embellishment if you like.  My sweater is going to be part of Christmas pictures, so I wanted it to coordinate with the children.  I plan to wear it unbuttoned over a black lace T w/ a black ribbon bow belt and jeans to Christmas.  I'm not to fond of it buttoned in this photo. The floral embellishments are made using scraps from my daughter's blouse. 

Materials:
Sweater
Crewneck Sweater
Finished edge seam trim or ribbon
Sewing Machine and supplies
Flower Embellishments
Flower scraps
Needle and Thread
Candle (optional)
Beads (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut the sweater up the middle.
Lay seam tape onto right side of the sweater, matching the sweater's raw edge to the tapes edge.  Using a zigzag stitch (2 wide x 2 long), stitch along the matched sweater/tape edge.

 Close up

 2. Turn the tape to the wrong side of the sweater and press flat.  Stitch on top of the tape near the folded sweater edge (as in the close up) picture above.  Use fray check or other method to seal tape/ribbon top and bottom ends to prevent them from fraying.

Enjoy your sweater as is or add a button loop closure to the top, as I did.  I also added floral embellishments to dress my sweater up.  Keep reading for the embellishment part of the directions.

4. Cut pairs of squares for the flowers.  Our larger squares are about 1 1/2" square.



5. Wovens will need the edges sealed to prevent fraying.  I used the candle/melt method. Knits do not.



6. Fold the square in half.

    Then in quarters.

 7. Using a needle and thread stitch across each side of the corner.

8. Pull the corner stitching tight.  This will bunch up your flower.



This is what the flower layer looks like opened up.

9. Stack two flower layers together and stitch in the center. 



 10.  I'm sorry for the blurr...  Stitch a few small beads or a small button in the center.

11.  Arrange the flowers.  Pin them in place.  Repin them so that the pin only goes through one sweater layer.  Stitch them down.  I stitched each flower near the center only.

The finished sweater.  I hope to have a modeled shot soon.

For all of you who are thinking about some Christmas sewing, all of our patterns are 50% off now through December 1st.  Use the Code  Christmas   at checkout.  But, there's one catch.  I want to see the completed project photos. ;)  Actually you can use the code even if you don't share the pictures.

Happy Sewing!

Debbie